


Icy Ground, Burning Hearts

by ChaoticNachoKitten



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race (US) RPF
Genre: Crush at First Sight, Crushes, F/F, Falling In Love, Flirting, Fluff, Ice Skating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:20:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29283672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNachoKitten/pseuds/ChaoticNachoKitten
Summary: All Denali had wanted was to distract herself from a bad day by going ice skating. Instantly crushing on a cute girl with pink hair had definitely not been part of her plan.
Relationships: Denali/Rosé (Drag Race)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 41





	Icy Ground, Burning Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to PuddleMereUnited for betaing, you’re amazing<3

If people were to describe what terms they associated with the word 'ice,' most of them would most likely pick words like 'cold,' 'hard,' 'slippery' or even 'dangerous.' Denali felt completely different about ice though. To her, it wasn't just a bunch of ever so slowly melting frozen water, it was so much more than that. Most people didn't seem to realize that it was a blank canvas just waiting to be used. Maybe she thought that way because she regularly stood on it unlike most other people she knew. The marks which the blade of her ice skates left whenever she practised were equal to the paint strokes an artist left on paper. A small step contributing to finishing the art. Because that's what ice skating meant to Denali- it was art. She could express herself in ways that were impossible to do with words. No one could take her passion away from her, no matter what. 

Ice skating was also a way for her to forget about reality for a bit, which really came in handy sometimes. Today was a day like that. It had just started the wrong way and then gotten progressively worse as the hours passed. She didn't even want to think about it anymore, she just wanted to forget about it as quickly as possible. So instead of thinking about all the things that had gone wrong she decided to practice, that was almost guaranteed to lift her spirits instantly. 

After entering the building she realized that she had forgotten to check the time. All she knew was that it was currently around noon, maybe even early afternoon already. This was approximately the time the place offered ice skating courses for beginners. The last thing Denali wanted right now was having to wait until whoever might be on the ice had finished. Sometimes those courses seemed to take forever to finish, she made the mistake of forgetting to check the time multiple times already. So forgetting it on this particular day honestly wasn't surprising to her at all, just extremely annoying.

Praying that the day could just listen to her prayers for once and that it wasn't the case, she decided to check the rink before changing into more appropriate clothes for ice skating. Of course though, something about this day was absolutely cursed. Denali recognized the instructor who did those beginner classes usually. She was currently explaining something to someone else. The person had her back turned to Denali, so she couldn't see their face. Usually she would have just left already but for some reason Denali couldn't take her eyes off of the person. Maybe it was because they had bright pink hair, maybe it was something else that drew her in. The instructor waved at Denali and greeted her. By now she essentially knew everyone who worked in the building because she was there so often. The waving and greeting made the other person turn around as well, somewhat slowly though because they were most likely still scared of falling. 

The moment the two of them made eye contact, Denali could feel all of her built up frustrations the day had caused her simply melting away all of the sudden. Even with the slightly scared expression, the other girl, around the same age as her, was  _ stunning. _ Although there was some distance between the two of them, Denali could instantly feel her heart giving a flutter. 'Oh god, not again. This  _ can't  _ be happening,' she immediately thought to herself as soon as she felt it. The last crush she had had had been extremely emotionally draining and it had ended in a painful heartbreak that didn't get better for months. Denali wasn't sure she could handle something like that a second time. Especially on a day like this on which the universe had decided she needed to be punished for something, instantly crushing on a girl after seeing her and making eye contact with her once seemed like an awful idea. It was basically already destined to end in the exact same way.

Deciding she would not give into this feeling, no matter what, she decided to leave and wait for this girl's course to be over. Just standing and staring at someone who was on their first lesson was probably creepy, so leaving was the most polite thing to do anyway. She looked at the pink haired girl one last time, secretly hoping they would make eye contact again, but it didn't happen.

To pass some time, she changed and even put on her ice skates already. The ones she wore today were black and perhaps a bit plain, but they were meant to be functional. Besides that, they looked kind of cute anyway.

Since the other girl still wasn't done, Denali decided to grab her phone and pick out a song she wanted to focus on and practice its choreography for today. 

After successfully doing so and listening to it a couple of times to get a good feel for the essence of it, the pink haired girl from earlier finally entered the changing room. She looked quite happy now, there was a sweet smile on her lips. It made her look so beautiful Denali couldn't help but smile too. She quickly removed her headphones to make sure the other one wouldn't think that she wasn't interested in talking.

"Hey. I'm Rosé. I'm sorry if I looked at you weirdly earlier, it was my first class and I was kind of intimidated by the ice. What's your name?"

Rosé extended her arm, waiting for Denali to take her perfectly pink manicured hand, her nails were the exact same color as her hair except for a couple of tiny white flowers drawn on top of the pink.

Denali couldn't remember what stepping on the ice for the first time had felt like to her. All she remembered at this point was the feeling afterwards. She had simply known that this was her passion, the thing she was born to do, it was something she wanted to do forever. 

She took Rosé's hand and they exchanged a handshake.

"I'm Denali. Nice to meet you, Rosé."

"Denali, right? That's such a pretty name. It really fits you."

Denali could feel her cheeks heating up. Was the other girl just being nice or was it something more already?

"Thank you. I think your name is perfect for you too. I love your hair."

"Really?" Rosé ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "It looks gross though now, and originally I wanted it to be more on the pastel side. I guess I messed up the color a bit."

"Don't worry, it doesn't. Plus, I think a brighter color probably fits your personality better."

"My personality? How do you know what kind of personality I have?" Rosé grinned at Denali. The latter didn't really know what to answer, but then did so anyway.

"It's just a guess, you just seem like it."

"Well, perhaps we'll see each other more often, then you'll find out." The little wink Rosé offered to Denali was enough to make her melt on the spot. She tried not to let it show too much though. She was still trying to fight the feeling after all, even though it honestly was kind of pointless already.

"That's exciting! So did you like your first lesson?"

Rosé thought for a moment before answering.

"Well, I guess so. It's just a bit scary. Ice is so unforgiving and I don't want to fall on it."

Denali nodded, this was a valid concern many people had.

"I can't remember the amount of times I've fallen down at this point honestly. But the most important thing is that you get back up, because often it's just a bruise if anything. The ice is not scary, I promise. And once you let go of that mindset that you'll find that you're less likely going to fall just because you're not thinking about it constantly."

"You sure sound like you know what you're talking about. So you're a professional?"

Denali usually wasn't super shy about talking about herself, but something about this girl made it hard to even try to think clearly.

"I guess you could say so. I've just been doing it for so long now you're bound to improve your skills."

"Can I maybe watch you ice skating some day, preferably in the near future? I just want to see a professional do it in front of me. Maybe I'll learn something." Rosé couldn't hide her smirk though which gave away that this wasn't her only intention.

"Sure! But maybe not today, my day has been going horribly. Well, until I came here, but still. I don't want you to see me massively struggling today." Denali chuckled nervously.

"Alright, that's fine. I'm sorry your day didn't go as planned, I hope that ice skating will help you with that. Unfortunately I have to go soon now. I'm sure we'll talk next week again though. I'll be here at the same time and everything."

With that, Rosé went to grab her things. Before leaving though, she locked eyes with Denali one last time and even went as far as gently touching her cheek for a couple of seconds, her touch as light as a feather. Even after she had stopped, Denali still felt an extremely pleasant tingling sensation where Rosé had touched her. 

"Your eyes are gorgeous," the pink haired girl whispered before turning around, winking at Denali one last time and then leaving.

This maybe tease was too much for Denali's poor heart to handle. In fact, she was frozen in place for a solid minute, completely starstruck by Rosé. The mentality of not allowing herself to have another crush was erased from her memory. At least for a couple of minutes. When it slowly came back to her, she quickly tried to shake off the paralyzing feeling and made her way back to the ice rink. 

Things didn't go exactly as planned, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Denali's head was refusing to work properly ever since she had laid eyes upon Rosé which made it impossible for her to focus on the choreography that she would technically know by heart by now under normal circumstances. She was determined, however, to do _something._ There was absolutely no way she'd leave this rink without working on something. So she figured, if doing the choreography wasn't possible for her right now, she'd simply go with freestyling which, depending on the occasion, was way more fun anyway. Of course, the first song that played after choosing the shuffle option of her playlist, was a love song, CUPID by OH MY GIRL. This was some kind of sign, Denali was sure of it. Although she kind of wanted to, she didn't change it. The song really wasn't at fault here after all and she really liked it. This decision was the best one (or maybe the second best one, coming here and talking to Rosé being the best) she had made all day. Now, of course she was already great at ice skating and had complete control over her body, but today she felt like everything was extremely easy to do. It felt as if the ice had turned into a huge, fluffy cloud, allowing her to glide on it smoothly helping her jump higher and with more precision and completely turning around her day with each turn she did on it. An hour ago, she would have wanted to end this day as soon as she had the chance to. Now, she didn't want this moment to end at all. At least definitely not anytime soon.

At nighttime, Denali had a hard time falling asleep, mostly because she wasn't actually tired. She was simply too excited despite the fact that it had been several hours now already since she had met Rosé. Her body was all warm and tingly, she couldn't stop smiling. Her energy levels were high enough that she could have gone for a run or something in the middle of the night. All of that because she had met a girl. Well, that was a lie. Rosé wasn't just any girl. Even though Denali had already talked to her for a couple of minutes, and therefore it shouldn't have been more than a quick, casual chat with a random acquaintance, it had been so much more than that. It had certainly been enough to make Denali instantly crush on the other girl even with her newly found aversion against any type of crush. They were distracting and most of the time ended badly and therefore weren't worth wasting time on. And yet Denali felt unable to talk herself out of it, in fact, she couldn't even stop thinking about Rosé. The more she tried to think about something else, the more details came back to her. Rosé's beautiful, bright eyes that made anyone's day better by just looking at them. Then, of course, the obvious, her hair. It had looked so pretty and somehow still neat even after practice, the pink really suited her and added to her beauty. It honestly looked a bit like really colorful cotton candy in the best way. In other words, it had taken every bit of Denali's restraint not to touch it. The facial feature she thought about most though were definitely Rosé's lips and what she had done with them. Her smile was definitely enough to brighten up an entire room. It just seemed so genuine and inviting. Denali wished she would have had the chance to capture it. For now her memories would have to suffice. Everytime Rosé had smirked at her, Denali could have sworn that her heart had suddenly started beating twice as fast. Even just thinking about it now had the exact same effect, it made her heart race and her cheeks heat up. And the things the pink haired girl had said to her, especially her last sentence combined with that wink- reminding herself of that was enough to make her feel some type of way. Certainly enough that she was already sure she would not miss the chance to talk to Rosé again next week under any circumstances. 

It turned out that this was pretty much everything Denali could think of all week. The excitement of what would happen was almost too much to handle. It even changed her behavior. She was an upbeat person to begin with, but on the days leading up to the next meeting she was acting happy enough for everyone around her to question it. Denali kept her mouth shut, however, simply because it was really sort of embarrassing. She was heads over heels about someone she had met once and talked to for what? Ten, maybe fifteen minutes? Certainly not enough to develop a crush. Well, in theory. Unfortunately reality sometimes wasn't as rational. 

So when the day came, Denali was a nervous mess. It honestly went somewhat similar to last week, nothing was really working out the way she wanted it to because she just couldn't focus on any of her usual tasks. The difference being, of course, that this time she was the one who caused this day to be like that, and because she was thinking about what was ahead of her, she honestly didn't mind too much. Time passed way too slowly for her taste though, so she tried to distract herself with anything she could. When it finally was time to get ready to go however, hours seemed to pass like seconds, perhaps even quicker than that. Maybe it was because she made an effort to look perfect today. It wasn't as if she wasn't pretty confident already; she definitely was and got complimented on her looks regularly. Today this wasn't exactly how she felt. A particle of makeup out of place would have been not good enough for her unrealistically high standards of today. That meant that doing it as precisely as she possibly could and fixing it immediately if something was bothering her, which obviously took a lot of time. The end result was definitely worth it though. She looked absolutely stunning, as if she was going on a date or something. Well,  _ technically… _

Denali quickly abandoned that thought. She couldn't think like that already. So instead she focused on finding an outfit that looked good and would compliment her makeup. She wasn't sure if Rosé would even see her in it or just in her regular workout clothes, but she wanted to prepare for every single eventuality just to be safe. After trying on way too many outfits, she was finally happy with one of them, a short, pretty ocean blue dress that sparkled. It was a bit over the top, but Denali simply didn't care about that today.

Because she was still going there to ice skate as well and that meant she didn't want her hair to be down and bothering her, she put it into a high ponytail and then braided it carefully, making sure it looked neat. Since she often did the exact same hairstyle so her long hair wouldn't bother her or get in the way, this didn't take too long. Or so she thought at least.

When she was finally all ready to go, she realized how late it was already with horror. If she wanted to make it on time to meet Rosé, which she obviously wanted, she'd have to rush and basically run, so that was what she did. Going with the over the top route, she had decided to wear heels. Thankfully it only slowed her down a bit, thanks to having done it quite a few times already. A couple of people she passed by on her way gave her weird looks but she didn't let that bother her, she was aware of how ridiculous she probably looked but she was in a rush and needed to be punctual.

She made it to the building slightly out of breath but just in time, Rosé should have just finished her lesson if she remembered correctly. Well, that was if she had decided to continue. All Denali could do was hope that the pink haired girl had. This time, she didn't put on her headphones, instead she was way too nervous to do anything besides wait in the changing room, she didn't want to interrupt another lesson again and picking out songs to practice on could be done later as well. It wasn't like she was in any position to make a decision right now.

All of her worries were instantly removed, however, when the person she had been thinking about all week walked into the room, instantly smiling when she saw Denali, even brighter than last time.

"Hi! You actually came to see me! Did you miss me?" Rosé's smile increased with each word. Denali wasn't quite sure how to answer it. The truth was definitely not a choice, it would just sound creepy and would probably cause the other girl to stop talking to her.

"Well, uh…"

Rosé just laughed. She had a really nice laugh, it sounded light and joyful, and on top of that, it also made her look even more beautiful if that was even possible. Denali hoped she'd hear it more often, but in a less awkward context next time of course.

"It's okay, you don't have to answer that. Do you have any plans later today?"

Well, this certainly was all going very fast. 

"No, not really. No." Denali sounded painfully awkward and nervous even to her own ears.

"Really? You look like you're about to go to a party or something. That seems almost disrespectful to your beautiful outfit. And don't even get me started on your makeup. All of it just to go ice skating? And more importantly, are you okay? You seem...tense." Rosé was slightly smirking again and her tone was that teasing one Denali already knew.

"Thank you, I guess I just felt dressing up so that's what I did." She chuckled nervously before continuing.

"And yeah, I'm totally fine, thanks for asking."

Rosé shook her head, not believing Denali at all.

"No, I can tell. You're nervous, why is that? Do I make you nervous?" She smiled, tilted her head and fluttered her eyelashes. Anyone else would have probably looked ridiculous doing that, but not Rosé. She looked like a model posing for the cover of a magazine. It did absolutely nothing to help with Denali's nervousness. Yes,  _ of course  _ Rosé made her nervous, but could she really admit this out loud?

"Aww, please don't be nervous, it's okay, actually I'm pretty nice, so no need to be scared of me. I was wondering if you'd let me watch you ice skate today?" Rosé now actually felt a bit bad for making Denali all blushy and flustered, so she hoped that changing the topic was enough to calm down the other girl a bit and maybe get her to be a little more comfortable around her and open up a bit more as well.

"I mean, sure? I'm not sure how entertaining it is to watch someone practice the same thing over and over again though."

"Oh, I don't mind at all. Repetition is important to learn something after all, right? So I guess watching something repeatedly will have a similar effect? Meaning I might learn something about you." After a few seconds, the pink haired girl added. "Obviously I mean your  _ technique _ ." Even Denali in her flustered state could tell that the whole technique thing was not the sole reason for Rosé's request. A few seconds later this assumption proved to be true.

"Do you mind if I film you? Like, obviously just because, you know, the learning process and not because you look absolutely stunning." 

Denali was almost convinced she'd pass out on the spot, overwhelmed by her feelings. Her heart was probably beating with lightning speed, the rest of her body was all hot and fluttery, it was almost enough to make her dizzy. Somehow her legs still managed to hold her upright. Her mind was blank, her feelings were in complete control of her. Apparently having a crush nowadays meant that you also forgot how to talk properly, so all she could do was nod awkwardly and try not to show how she was truly feeling. 

They walked up to the rink in silence, it wasn't weird or anything though, it was an alright kind of silence. 

"So, what are you going to practice today?" Rosé asked in an attempt to get the conversation to live up again.

"Oh, I have two options actually. I could work on a choreography or I could just do freestyling. Honestly I'll do whatever you think will help you more."

"Help? Oh, right, of course. What are the songs you're currently working on?" Apparently music could tell a lot about a person, so it was probably a good question to ask. After Denali started listing a couple of KPop songs however, Rosé wasn't quite that sure anymore. 

"You don't know any of the songs? I think I'll definitely do choreography then, I need to introduce you to this kind of music. You'll thank me later." 

With that, Denali picked out a song and got ready for her performance. Rosé opened the camera on her phone so she could film. 

Watching Denali ice skate was almost magical. Her and the ice seemed to be a match made in heaven. Even though Rosé already knew that Denali wasn't scared of it, it was still so crazy to her how anyone could be so calm about dancing on such a slippery and unforgiving ground. There was absolutely no sign of even nervousness on her face, she was just concentrating on what she was doing. 

Each of her movements were absolute perfection as well. There was just such extreme precision and everything looked so clean and polished, probably from countless years of training. Denali actually managed to make it look  _ easy  _ and  _ effortless.  _ Of course that didn't mean that Rosé wasn't entertained by it, she totally was, gasping in disbelief whenever Denali would jump or do something similar. It was really just beyond her how something like that was even possible to do with such perfection and absolutely no fear. 

Rosé had been so captivated by the performance that she had completely forgotten to film it. It honestly was a miracle she hadn't dropped her phone. While she had been watching it, their surroundings had started to quickly become less and less interesting to her, and after just a couple of seconds all there had been were Denali, herself and the ice. Rosé hadn't even paid any attention to the music, it wasn't even needed necessarily in her opinion. 

So when Denali was finished, meeting Rosé outside of the rink again, the pink haired girl wasn't quite sure what to say or even how to react. She couldn't quite put her experience into words, so she simply said the first things that came to her mind.

"This was everything. Really, you're incredible, thank you. Thank you so much."

Denali looked a bit surprised but also quite happy about Rosé's statement.

"Really? I honestly thought you'd be bored of it pretty quickly because it is a bit repetitive, so I'm really glad you weren't. Do you think it helped you though?"

Rosé was once again reminded of the forgotten video.

"I mean yeah, I think so, at least by watching. But I'll be honest, I forgot to film it because I was so fascinated."

Denali let out a laugh.

"Oh come on, now you're exaggerating. Thinking about it though, would you maybe like to show me how you're doing it so far? Maybe I could give you advice if you wanted that?"

Rosé smiled. "I'd love that, honestly."

Then she realized something.

"Wait, actually, you're such a professional, you'd probably laugh at me, so maybe not."

Denali was quick to respond to that.

"What? No, why would I laugh at you for learning a new hobby? No one starts out already able to do everything perfectly, that would actually be kind of boring if you think about it. It's a learning process and I can see that you want to learn and improve and that's nothing to laugh about. If anything, it's inspiring."

Rosé knew that there was no arguing with that, so she smiled and nodded.

"Alright, you've convinced me. Promise not to let me fall?" By now the pink haired girl was almost certain she could at least stand on the ice without having to worry about immediately slipping on it, but she just wanted to make sure.

"Of course I won't. If you're okay with that, we can even hold hands the entire time." 

And who was Rosé to decline such a nice offer.

"Yes, that would be great, thank you. I'll just get my ice skates and then we can do it."

In the changing room, Rosé quickly made sure she still looked okay and decided to apply a fresh layer of lipstick as quickly as she could without horribly smudging it. She didn't want to let Denali wait for too long, that would be sort of rude, but she also wanted to look good. Denali meanwhile was picking out another one of her songs, a much calmer one this time. Maybe it would do something for Rosé, maybe it would help to keep her calm and hopefully she'd finally discover how great her taste in music actually was. She was quite excited that perhaps they were going to hold hands. It almost felt too intimate, but then again, even platonic friends did it all the time, so where was the harm in it? It was just to make Rosé feel safe after all. Well, mostly. Denali also wanted to use that perfect opportunity.

Denali kept her promise, so as soon as Rosé carefully stepped on the ice, Denali took her hand, very carefully at first though so Rosé could pull away if she wanted to. Instead, she squeezed Denali's hand to signal to her that she was totally okay with it and in fact this was what she wanted. Denali's heart was giving another flutter that was hard to ignore this time because it was extremely intense.

The two of them continued holding hands and went very slowly to minimize the risk of anything bad happening. Just holding hands was causing both of them to blush. Rosé was suddenly less confident now that she was on the ice, but Denali liked seeing this side of her just as much as her usual extroverted one. 

Just when Denali was going to tell Rosé to just relax as the other girl was still extremely tense, it happened. Rosé somehow managed to slip and would have fallen down head first if it hadn't been for Denali's quick reflexes. She caught Rosé by the waist just in time before anything could happen. 

Denali was about to let go immediately after, afraid she had overstepped a line even if it was for the sake of keeping her promise from earlier, but Rosé stopped her.

"Wait no, don't let go, please."

"Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself or something? You're kind of shivering a bit."

"I'm fine," Rosé answered quickly. "Just got scared there for a second. I think I want to get off the ice now though."

"Alright, we'll do that, but the exit is pretty far away. Do you think you can get there?"

"I think so. But we're at the very back of the rink...it's making me a bit nervous."

"I think I know how it might be a little less scary for you." Denali told Rosé to hold onto the side of the rink for a bit so she had the chance to move. She repositioned herself in front of the pink haired girl and helped her turn around so they were facing each other.

"So what I thought may work is, we'll hold hands again, but this time we'll face each other and I'll be in front of you. So that means if you're going to slip again, which won't happen I promise I will not let it happen, you'll fall on top of me. So that means, no matter what happens, you're safe."

"But what about you?" As much as Rosé liked Denali's suggestion, she didn't want the other girl to basically take the damage for her own inability to ice skate.

"I'll be fine, don't worry, I've done this before" Denali answered calmly.

"Ready?"

Rosé still didn't trust Denali's answer completely, but she wanted to be on real ground again as soon as possible, so she nodded.

"I'm ready."

"Don't even look down at what you're doing, because I know you know what you're supposed to do. Just look at me."

Looking at Denali actually helped Rosé to calm down a bit, at least enough that she felt like everything would be fine and there wouldn't be another near accident.

Since Denali was very experienced in ice skating, she knew how to do it backwards as well. Of course she had to focus a bit more on it, but she still made sure to smile at the other girl in front of her who was doing her very best to keep going without tripping. It all worked flawlessly without any problems. That was until the very end. Perhaps Denali had looked at Rosé's pretty eyes for a second too long and lost focus on what she was doing, perhaps, but very unlikely it could have been something else too. Regardless of what it was, they didn't reach the exit, instead they loudly crashed into the side of the rink. The crash thankfully wasn't too bad, but it was enough force to push Rosé against Denali. They were so close to each other's face, if someone dared moving the tiniest bit forward, they would be kissing. Rosé moved back fairly slowly, she didn't want to really, but she also didn't want to overwhelm Denali who perhaps wasn't even into girls. The truth was, Denali was sad as well when Rosé moved away from her, but of course she didn't let it show.

"Are you okay?" Rosé asked this time.

"Yeah, it was just loud but it didn't even hurt. And see, Rosé? You did it!"

"I'm so glad you didn't get hurt. And thank you, but you did all of the work."

"Not true. Let's get out of here though first before arguing about that."

"Right, we're still on the ice. Let's get off before I actually manage to face plant into it," Rosé giggled.

Once they were "back to safety" as Rosé called it, they both started getting ready to leave in the changing room. 

The building only had only two in total, which meant that Denali and Rosé had to change in the same room. This was both exciting and awkward. They both tried to give each other some privacy by changing in different spots with some distance between them, but not enough to actually stop either of them from trying to look at each other while changing. Every single time Denali would look over at the other girl, afraid she'd notice, her heart would skip a beat. Part of it was because obviously she was nervous, but it was mostly because Rosé looked  _ good.  _ Her heartbeat was pretty much completely out of control now, Denali was sure of it. If she had known that Rosé was doing the exact same thing to her, looking while she didn't notice, it would have probably been over with her. Although it probably wasn't physically possible, she was scared Rosé would somehow be able to hear her pounding heart, so Denali decided to put on some music, turning the volume down though so it wouldn't come off as rude. To avoid getting caught staring, she decided to initiate a light hearted conversation. It would allow her to look at the other girl because looking at each other was completely fine while talking to each other. Denali couldn't quite think straight though, so she said the first thing that came to her mind, hoping she wouldn't sound stupid to the girl she already liked so much.

"Well, this was fun. Let's do it again sometime," she said, joy present in her voice. 

"Well, I hope you mean everything was fun minus me almost completely embarrassing myself in front of you," Rosé answered, mock hurt in her voice.

"Of course. While you didn't embarrass yourself, I would have felt terrible if I had broken my promise to not let you fall."

Only now Denali realized that she was standing in front of Rosé with nothing covering her upper body except her light blue bra. She wasn't sure how she hadn't even thought of that, but now she was embarrassed. She was going to put on her dress as quickly as possible, but then she noticed Rosé...checking her out? Denali wasn't quite sure, but she could have sworn.

"Ice really is your thing, isn't it? Even your underwear has snowflakes on it," the pink haired girl smiled.

Denali could feel her probably already present blush deepen.

"Well, it's cute, right?"

"Yes, of course it is. It suits you." 

Was this another way of Rosé saying that Denali was cute? Then, she continued.

"Look, I was going to wait until we're both done and ready to leave, but I swear if I look at your beautiful eyes for a couple more seconds I'll completely forget about it. They're the prettiest ones I've ever seen, so mesmerizing and they compliment your face so well."

With that, Rosé searched around in a pink bag for a couple of seconds before handing Denali a tiny, equally pink envelope.

"If ice is my thing, yours is the color pink. And thank you."

"You know what? You're not wrong. Pink is just a really nice color. But anyway, please don't open it until I'm gone, okay?" 

Since Rosé now seemed a bit nervous, Denali wasn't sure what to think of the envelope. It could contain pretty much anything.

"Alright, I won't. I don't have to be scared though, right?"

This made Rosé chuckle.

"Well, I sure hope not."

Now Denali was torn. Part of her wanted to spend more time with Rosé, another part wanted to get home as soon as possible to open the envelope. She decided she could at least finally get dressed again. 

The pink haired girl took away that decision from her just a few minutes later.

"Oh no, I completely forgot about the time, I really need to head home. Denali, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, don't worry," Denali offered. As much as she didn't want Rosé to go, she also didn't want to cause the other girl any problems.

Before Rosé left though, she opened her arms, a silent invitation for Denali. She accepted, of course, and the two hugged for probably a time that was too long to be considered a casual hug you'd receive from your friends. And yet Denali didn't care. It felt so right, it felt amazing. She felt safe and happy. Rosé smelled like freshly blooming roses on a beautiful sunny spring morning. Maybe having a crush on her was actually a good thing. Denali was at least sure by now that there was no going back now. She was totally smitten by the girl currently embracing her. The fact that she was immediately craving touch again after the hug had ended just proved it further.

"Okay, well, see you soon," Rosé purred, adding emphasis to 'soon.' Was this supposed to be some kind of hint? Denali wasn't sure. What she was definitely sure of was that Rosé winking at her was something she couldn't witness any more, her desire to just go ahead and kiss the girl in front of her would get out of control and she needed to hold herself back. 

After she had made sure that Rosé wouldn't see her, she essentially sprinted back home, not even noticing the other people around her this time. She would have opened the pink envelope right on the spot, but it had felt too special to open it in an ordinary changing room. So as soon as Denali got home, she tried to open it as carefully as possible, trying to do so without ruining the pretty paper as there had even been work put into the outside of it. Rosé had taken time to write ' _ To Denali _ ' in beautiful calligraphy using a darker pink colored pencil. It was the most beautiful handwriting Denali had ever seen. 

The inside was decorated too. There were tiny flowers carefully drawn on the paper, along with a couple of snowflakes. Denali was too excited though to look at them closely, instead she pulled out the folded piece of paper inside of the envelope and unfolded it quickly. 

' _ Hey there,  _

_ I know this is kind of early but I really like you and I don't want to wait another week to see you.  _

Denali's heart almost melted while reading the letter. She couldn't quite believe that Rosé actually liked her enough that she wanted to meet up in private. Nevertheless, Denali was beyond happy the pink haired girl wanted to do it. In the next part of the letter Rosé mentioned the date and time she wanted to meet up at. Denali audibly gasped when she realized that the date was tomorrow. Rosé was serious about this whole thing, Denali was convinced now. Just the thought of being able to see Rosé again tomorrow made her want to do all kinds of kitschy stuff. Denali was pretty sure she was acting like one of those teenagers in the awfully done romances. She couldn't bring herself to care though. It wasn't her fault after all that the things Rosé was doing to her made her feel like that. Denali decided to read the last bits of the letter before her feelings would get too overwhelming again for her to comprehend what she was reading.

The letter ended with a sweet _"Xoxo Rosé."_

Below the text was another drawing, this time one of a tiny telephone and there was a number written next to it. In the bottom right hand corner was a dark pink kiss mark. Upon first glance it looked so perfect Denali thought it was printed on the paper. Even after realizing it was in fact real though, she wasn't surprised because well, Rosé was the one who had kissed the letter and her lips were just perfect. Maybe the letter meant that Denali would get the chance to actually feel them herself too soon.

'You need to stop thinking like that,' she told herself mentally. She didn't, it simply wasn't possible. Instead she decided she was going to save Rosé's number so she wouldn't lose it.

Denali wasn't sure what name to save her under. 'Rosé' would be the obvious choice, and it definitely was a pretty name, but Denali liked using nicknames for her friends usually. Then again, Rosé wasn't exactly a  _ friend. _ Or at least Denali hoped that Rosé didn't think of them as just friends. How would this relationship develop anyway? And why did it feel like crossing a line by saving her under a nickname? A line of intimacy, but that didn't make any sense. Regardless, Denali thought to herself that Rosé would never see what she was saved as anyway, so if Denali wanted to use a cute nickname, she could very much do so.

In the end, she decided on the name 'Rosie,' along with a cute rose emoji to accompany the name. It had taken her way too long, but no one had to know that. 

Now she was facing the next challenge though. Actually messaging Rosé. How was she supposed to do that? What was an appropriate way to message someone you were heads over heels over but barely knew? Her first message had to sound good, obviously. She didn't know how to make it sound good though, it was as if all her knowledge about messaging people had been stripped away from her. 

To delay the messaging a little bit longer, she checked out Rosé's profile picture first. It was a mirror selfie, presumably taken in a bathroom of a club. Rosé was standing in the middle, taking the selfie. There were two other girls standing next to her, both kissing her cheeks. They were probably friends of hers, judging by the fact that all of their outfits matched, they all were in a pink, purple and blue theme. The three girls all looked so genuinely happy it made Denali smile for a few seconds, but then she felt a pang of jealousy, as much as she didn't want to admit it. She had never seen herself as a person who got jealous easily, but apparently none of her usual behavior applied in this case. She decided she had to stop looking at the picture, which also meant she had to finally write the message now. If anything, letting Rosé wait even longer would probably cause her to think that Denali wasn't interested or hadn't even read the letter. With that in mind, she nervously started typing.

_ Heyy, this is Denali, the ice skating one in case you know multiple people with the same name. I just read your letter and I'd love meeting you tomorrow in case you're still free:) _

Did this sound dumb? Probably, but she couldn't think of a better way to phrase it. Nevertheless, she checked every single word three times before sending the message. Immediately after doing so, she put away her phone, both scared and excited for the answer she might receive. Her nerves were getting the best of her, so Denali decided to step outside for a few minutes to calm down a bit. She tried to think of the worst thing that could happen. It would either be receiving no answer and being left on read or Rosé having changed her mind. So, realistically, Denali had nothing to lose really. It would simply mean she'd have to get over another crush, and if she had managed to do it once, she could do it again. Although in her heart she knew that this wasn't simply a random, short lived crush that would go away soon, she tried to convince herself it was.

Anxiously she went back to her room, slowing down just before entering, to mentally prepare herself. Her timing was perfect. As soon as she grabbed her phone, her screen lit up, Rosé's name displayed on it, signaling that the pink haired girl was calling her. Without even thinking, she immediately hit accept. After doing so, however, she held her breath, scared to even make a sound. Thankfully, Rosé started talking not even a second later.

"Hi!" Her voice sounded quite chipper, she was probably excited.

"Hey," Denali answered, a lot more shy and somewhat reserved in an attempt not to show how nervous she actually was. It probably wasn't working very well though.

"Aww, are you okay, snow fox? You don't need to be nervous, you're just talking to me."

_ You're just talking to me.  _ Denali wanted to ask Rosé if she even understood what her voice alone did to Denali? Of course she couldn't just flat out ask that though. Instead she went with something a little less obvious.

"Did you just call me snow fox?" Denali was genuinely confused if she had even heard that right.

"Yeah. I mean, look at your profile picture."

'Oh, right,' Denali remembered. She had a beautiful picture of a snow fox sitting amongst a sea of fluffy snow.

"I like your profile picture too," she added, hoping this would help to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah, it was a pretty cool night. I actually came out to my friends Jan and Lagoona that night and they were very supportive of me. I'm very lucky to have them." Rosé had said it so casually that Denali wasn't sure if it was really what she thought it was.

"You came out?" She just wanted to make sure it wasn't just her lovestruck mind playing cruel tricks on her. 

"Yes, I did. I assume you know what it means?"

"Yes, of course," Denali answered quickly. Perhaps too quickly as Rosé immediately caught on to it.

"I hope you're...okay with it too?" Even though Denali couldn't see the other girl, she could practically hear her grin through the phone. She decided to try and let her guard down now that she at least knew that Rosé was not straight, that had been one of her biggest fears.

"Of course I am, in fact I like girls too."

"Well, that's amazing! So meeting up tomorrow means that'll be our first date? Only if you want it to be one, of course."

Denali couldn't believe it was as easy as that. She had literally worried about something that just seemed so casual now even though it was far from being casual obviously.

"I'd love it to be a date," she responded, her shy voice from earlier had transformed into one that was filled with glee and excitement.

"Alright then, Nali, I can't wait to see you tomorrow. Are the time and location okay with you?"

"Yeah, they're perfect."

"Great! Okay beautiful, see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow!" 

No one really wanted to end the call, but at the end Rosé did it before things got awkward. Denali still couldn't believe it. She was going to go on a date with the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. Maybe she'd give love another chance. Maybe everything happened for a reason after all. 


End file.
